This baked penne, broccoli and ricotta dish is great for weeknights and potlucks. Leave the chicken sausage out to make it vegetarian.
Happy National Pasta Day, friends! In honor of today’s holiday, I have a very tasty and easy pasta dish to share with you.
I made this dish with the help of this gorgeous Lagostina Martellata Hammered Copper Pastaiola Set.
I’ve used this pot for all manner of blanching, steaming, and cooking by now (it also happens to work well as a canning pot for half pint jars!) and have taken to leaving it on the stove between uses, because I so enjoy seeing it there in all its gleaming glory.
The recipe I’m sharing with you today puts this pot to work twice. First, I use it to blanch off a bunch of chopped broccoli. Once it’s cooked, I use the same water to cook the whole wheat penne.
While the broccoli cooks, I browned some chicken sausage in a little olive oil and then drained it on a plate. Once the broccoli is bright green and tender, it gets drained and poured into the pan where the sausage had cooked.
From there, it’s a matter of building a sauce of pressed garlic and ricotta cheese. I wrap it up by adding the cooked sausage back in, along with the pasta, a healthy splash of pasta water, and a generous handful of grated parmesan cheese. Finally, it gets popped into the oven to melt the cheese and crisp the edges of the pasta.
I love having a petite pasta pot like this one in my kitchen, because it allows me to stay at the stove, rather than dripping water between the sink and the stove. I’ve long had a larger pasta pot, but rarely pulled it out because it was just too much for my regular weeknight cooking. This one is just so much more functional for my household.
Disclosure: Lagostina sent me this pasta pot to use and write about. No additional compensation was provided. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Baked Penne, Broccoli, and Ricotta
Ingredients
- 1 pound broccoli florets and stems, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 pound chicken sausage
- 12 ounces short whole wheat pasta
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Fill a pasta pot with water and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, salt the water well and add the broccoli. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until it turns a vivid green.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the chicken sausage from its casing and brown in the pan, using a spatula to break it up into crumbles. Once it is brown, use a slotted spoon and transfer the cooked pasta onto a paper towel-lined plate.
- Tumble the cooked broccoli into the pan that had once held the sausage and reduce the heat to medium. Bring the water in the pasta pot back to a boil and add the pasta.
- Add the garlic to the broccoli, along with the ricotta cheese and the drained sausage. Stir to combine.
- When the pasta is finished cooking, drain it and pour it into the pan with the other ingredients. Stir to combine and add 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese, along with 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water.
- Season with salt and pepper, and add more pasta water, if it is too thick.
- Top with the remaining parmesan cheese. Slide the pan under the broiler to brown the top.
Definitely for pasta but I might just stare at it because copper is so pretty!
I would use it for many things: steam vegetables, pasta, smaller batches of soup and chili, even canning half pint jars as well. Very versatile.
Oh!! What a beautiful pot! I love the hammered copper. I would use this for veggies and pasta all the time!
Beautiful pot unlike any I have seen.
Love your web site and recipes….I have tried several
Bev
I am tempted to say I would just use this pot for decoration . . . It’s so beautiful! But really, I would use it to steam all kinds of veggies, blanch fruits and veggies to prepare for dehydrating or freezing, and of course, pasta!
I have a feeling that I would use this pot for all the things you do. Small batches of pasta, soups, chilis etc. and then leave it on the stove between uses to be able to enjoy just how beautiful it is. That is one gorgeous pot. I’m so glad it is also functional and useful.
This is fantastic! I would probably use it for baked ziti…now that the weather is cooling down in the Northeast, there’s nothing like a pan of warm, comforting ziti on a cool, crisp day!
I’d use it to make my baked ziti and my spaghetti and meatballs
My kids are addicted to Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce so I would make a ton of spaghetti in that pot. So glad i finally found a recipe that everyone will eat with no complaining!
That pot is gorgeous! I love the idea of canning with it and it would get lots of use at my house.
A whole bunch of pasta for my favorite Caprese dish!
I too might leave it out on the stove because it is so beautiful! Definitely small batches of canning and soups!
Wow – its beautiful and so functional. We make homemade pasta for our local farmers market – this would be perfect to use for those small amounts that we keep for ourselves. And it holds half pint jars also – its a win win in my book.
Always wanted copper cookware, great start to a collection.
I love the size of this pot! Instead of making pasta for a crowd, using my larger pot, I can make pasta dishes more frequently. Using it for blanching is a great idea!
Beautiful pot! I would love to make spaghetti in it!
What a beautiful pot. I would try your recipe in this blog post.
Beautiful pot! I’d leave it out to view in between uses as well. Pasta, here I come!
I am definitely going to try this recipe as well. Thanks.
This gorgeous pot has me dreaming of making a great Ragu or Sunday sauce…I might just go on a pasta binge if I won this! Thanks for the chance 🙂
OMG, pasta and blanching ALL THE THINGS. I also like the idea way above about processing small batches of jams & jellies. Plus, my husband has a wee bit of a fetish for copper!
I have never owned a pot with a pasta insert and would like to have one. This would be the perfect size for our household. Also, love the idea of using ricotta in the sauce. Thanks!
wow. Gorgeous. I’ve learned the hard way that quality products make the process work. Thanks for all your hard work, Marisa! Would love to try this Beautiful pot.
Everything! I’d cook everything in this pot. And it would most likely sit on my stovetop too, I just love copper!!
Such beautiful cookware and functional as well. I would never put it away!
I love pasta and would use this beautiful pot to cook it in. I am looking forward to trying your recipe!
It’s very presence in the kitchen would add a touch of class. You don’t usually think of cookware as beautiful, but this pot really is. I’d use it as a blanched and spaghetti cooker.
OMG I would love to have this so I wouldn’t have to mess with my old dinged up colander anymore! This would be great for pasta nights at our house.
Marisa,
I have a pitiful 40 year old 4qt Mirro steamer pot from my college daze that I still use for all of the same reasons you mention…i.e. blanching, steaming, cooking, and even boiling bath for really small jars. It must have cost $15 in its day…and it is really thin stainless steel but it has always been so useful.
This pot would be a welcome upgrade as it is larger, very beautiful and I think is tri-ply. I haven’t used a copper clad pot since my mom’s old revereware decades ago. What a prize!!!
Such a beautiful pot!
I like hot lunches, and a smaller put for pasta at lunchtime sounds perfect.
That is such a beautiful pot! I doubt that it would ever leave the stove. So much pasta for our Italian family.
Pasta! Homemade raviolis! –djs
I have long wanted a beautiful pasta pot that preserves the hot water for incorporating into sauces. The fact that it can do double and triple duty for blanching and canning is great. Plus, it is absolutely beautiful!
We are a two person family now that our children are away from home. This pot would be PERFECT for the two of us. Soups, pasta . . . . so many uses!
Simmering “an old bird” for my Italian grandmother’s wedding soup recipe. Easily lifting the bird out while straining at the same time. Orzo next, and once prepared all put together in this beautiful copper piece front and center on our table scape for our fabulous holiday family meal.
I’d certainly use it for pasta — I’ve wanted a real pasta pot for ever. I’d also love using it for cooking jam and large quantity meals for my frozen dinner club.
What a gorgeous pot! Who wouldn’t want to use it practically every day? I would use it for soup, pasta, & steaming. Just plain old spaghetti with a perfect tomato sauce would be my first dish to prepare as it is my husband’s favorite.
I would use this pot for batches of pasta and sauteed peppers & onions with sausage & parmesan cheese, very similar to your recipe & one of our favorites! Thanks for the giveaway!
More pasta, more veggies, more soups! And when those aren’t happening, sitting in a happy place in the kitchen to admire its beauty. 🙂
How beautiful/elegant! I make a lot of pasta and soup. This pan would make life easier and more beautiful.
If it were up to my husband we’d have pasta every day, so this pot would definitely get a workout at my house!
This is my dream set , so if I win I will use it to make my awesome putenesca pasta sauce served over organic penne
This is a lovely Pot! Would look nice hanging on a pot rack. I’d certainly use mine for pasta.
I’d use that GORGEOUS pot to make my famous turkey day redux ravioli, it’s a fabulous and delicious way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers, I also make enough to freeze for Christmas.
I would use it almost daily as I make a lot of soup for my husband and myself, plus my husband makes a lot of homemade pasta that would be lovely to put it that pot to cook. I would also use it for small batch jelly, jam, chutney and etc. It is a beautiful pan and I would love to have it.
Versatile and space friendly, would be perfect for blanching large batches for the freezer, and simplifying dinner!
It’s not so much how I would use it, per se. Obviously, this thing would be awesome for creating rich stocks, blanching vegetables, skinning tomatoes and peaches, canning, etc. But the most enticing part about this set is when I would use it, where I would store it, and what would happen to it once I am no longer able to cook on my own.
Even though it is pretty enough to be set on a shelf and never used, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off it. Poached fish? Pasta? Shrimp, corn, potatoes and old bay? Yes, yes, and absolutely, yes! That’s not to say that it won’t also sit on a shelf, prominently, when not in use. Rather than hide it in the pantry or hang it from a pot rack, something this beautiful deserves a place of distinction in my kitchen. Finally, when I’m too old to cook on my own, this will be an heirloom that gets handed down from generation to generation as the only tool that could possibly recreate those favorite dishes they so fondly remember.
This is definitely going on the Christmas wishlist!
I have my first batch of Crabapple Shrub that I am ready to jar up but need a pot that is big enough for me to use to sanitize my bottles. This would be simply perfect!
A smaller pasta pan…..probably use it every day! …and beautiful is a bonus
I can’t wait to try this recipe, it looks delicious! This pasta pot will make a beautiful and functional addition to my kitchen.